This collection of recent and unpublished essays traces milestones in the field of analytic philosophy from its beginnings in Britain and Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, ...
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This collection of recent and unpublished essays traces milestones in the field of analytic philosophy from its beginnings in Britain and Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, through its subsequent growth in the United States, up to its present as the world’s most vigorous philosophical tradition. The central chapter chronicles how analytic philosophy developed in the United States out of American pragmatism, the impact of European visitors and immigrants, the mid-century transformation of the Harvard philosophy department, and the rapid spread of the analytic approach that followed. Another chapter explains the methodology guiding analytic philosophy, from the logicism of Frege and Russell through Wittgenstein’s linguistic turn and Carnap’s vision of replacing metaphysics with philosophy of science. Further chapters review advances in logic and the philosophy of mathematics that laid the foundation for a rigorous, scientific study of language, meaning, and information. Other chapters discuss W. V. O. Quine, David K. Lewis, Saul Kripke, the Frege–Russell analysis of quantification, Russell’s attempt to eliminate sets with his “no class theory,” and the Quine–Carnap dispute over meaning and ontology. The book then turns to topics at the frontier of philosophy of language. The final chapters, combining philosophy of language and law, advance a sophisticated originalist theory of interpretation and apply it to U.S. constitutional rulings about due process.Less

Analytic Philosophy in America : And Other Historical and Contemporary Essays

Scott Soames

Published in print: 2014-03-30

This collection of recent and unpublished essays traces milestones in the field of analytic philosophy from its beginnings in Britain and Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, through its subsequent growth in the United States, up to its present as the world’s most vigorous philosophical tradition. The central chapter chronicles how analytic philosophy developed in the United States out of American pragmatism, the impact of European visitors and immigrants, the mid-century transformation of the Harvard philosophy department, and the rapid spread of the analytic approach that followed. Another chapter explains the methodology guiding analytic philosophy, from the logicism of Frege and Russell through Wittgenstein’s linguistic turn and Carnap’s vision of replacing metaphysics with philosophy of science. Further chapters review advances in logic and the philosophy of mathematics that laid the foundation for a rigorous, scientific study of language, meaning, and information. Other chapters discuss W. V. O. Quine, David K. Lewis, Saul Kripke, the Frege–Russell analysis of quantification, Russell’s attempt to eliminate sets with his “no class theory,” and the Quine–Carnap dispute over meaning and ontology. The book then turns to topics at the frontier of philosophy of language. The final chapters, combining philosophy of language and law, advance a sophisticated originalist theory of interpretation and apply it to U.S. constitutional rulings about due process.

This collection of eleven previously unpublished chapters contains the latest developments in analytic feminist philosophy on the topic of pornography. A rich feminist literature on pornography has ...
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This collection of eleven previously unpublished chapters contains the latest developments in analytic feminist philosophy on the topic of pornography. A rich feminist literature on pornography has emerged since the 1980s, and Rae Langton’s speech act theoretic analysis has dominated specifically Anglo-American feminist philosophy on pornography. Despite this literature, there are considerable disagreements and precious little agreement on many key issues, such as what pornography is, whether (following Langton) it subordinates and silences women, whether it objectifies women in harmful ways, and whether it is authoritative enough to enact women’s subordination. Given these deep disagreements, the first goal of this book is to take stock of extant debates to clarify some key feminist conceptual and political commitments when discussing pornography. However, in so doing, it aims to go beyond the prevalent speech act approach to pornography. Thus, its second goal is to highlight new issues in feminist pornography debates. The book examines newer lines of inquiry and investigates what they can tell us about still-unsettled conceptual and political questions. In doing so, it opens a space for themes and debates that have to date received surprisingly little attention (such as aesthetics and putatively feminist pornography). The book aims to make progress philosophically analyzing pornography without simply rehashing old debates while still acknowledging the value of earlier feminist work. Thus, the book’s leading idea is to go “beyond speech” but without changing the terms of the debate wholesale.Less

Beyond Speech : Pornography and Analytic Feminist Philosophy

Published in print: 2017-05-25

This collection of eleven previously unpublished chapters contains the latest developments in analytic feminist philosophy on the topic of pornography. A rich feminist literature on pornography has emerged since the 1980s, and Rae Langton’s speech act theoretic analysis has dominated specifically Anglo-American feminist philosophy on pornography. Despite this literature, there are considerable disagreements and precious little agreement on many key issues, such as what pornography is, whether (following Langton) it subordinates and silences women, whether it objectifies women in harmful ways, and whether it is authoritative enough to enact women’s subordination. Given these deep disagreements, the first goal of this book is to take stock of extant debates to clarify some key feminist conceptual and political commitments when discussing pornography. However, in so doing, it aims to go beyond the prevalent speech act approach to pornography. Thus, its second goal is to highlight new issues in feminist pornography debates. The book examines newer lines of inquiry and investigates what they can tell us about still-unsettled conceptual and political questions. In doing so, it opens a space for themes and debates that have to date received surprisingly little attention (such as aesthetics and putatively feminist pornography). The book aims to make progress philosophically analyzing pornography without simply rehashing old debates while still acknowledging the value of earlier feminist work. Thus, the book’s leading idea is to go “beyond speech” but without changing the terms of the debate wholesale.

The book is a collection of chapters on the work of Charles S. Peirce that grew out of conversations between the authors over the last decade and a half. The chapters focus primarily on Peirce's ...
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The book is a collection of chapters on the work of Charles S. Peirce that grew out of conversations between the authors over the last decade and a half. The chapters focus primarily on Peirce's consideration of realism and idealism as philosophical outlooks. Some deal directly with Peirce's accounts of realism and idealism; others look to the consequences of these accounts for other features of Peirce's overall philosophical system.Less

Conversations on Peirce : Reals and Ideals

Douglas AndersonCarl Hausman

Published in print: 2012-03-14

The book is a collection of chapters on the work of Charles S. Peirce that grew out of conversations between the authors over the last decade and a half. The chapters focus primarily on Peirce's consideration of realism and idealism as philosophical outlooks. Some deal directly with Peirce's accounts of realism and idealism; others look to the consequences of these accounts for other features of Peirce's overall philosophical system.

This book contends that Gabriel Marcel’s reflective method is animated by two extraphilosophical commitments. Marcel’s first extraphilosophical commitment is to an ethico-religious insight where the ...
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This book contends that Gabriel Marcel’s reflective method is animated by two extraphilosophical commitments. Marcel’s first extraphilosophical commitment is to an ethico-religious insight where the highest ontological exigency for human persons is to participate in being. Marcel’s second extraphilosophical commitment is to battle the ever-present threat of dehumanization in late Western modernity. The importance of these two commitments to Marcel’s reflective method can be appreciated better if one views it as a teleological suspension of philosophy. Unfortunately, Marcel undermines his second extraphilosophical commitment by neglecting to examine what is perhaps the most prevalent threat of depersonalization in Western modernity, antiblack racism. Given Marcel’s professed commitment to battle against the forces of dehumanization in late Western modernity, any Marcellian reflective method that is faithful to Marcel’s commitment to combat dehumanization should account for how antiblack racism has affected modern human persons, especially Africana persons. Tunstall thinks Gordon’s existential phenomenology is a promising candidate for providing this sort of account.Less

Dwayne A. Tunstall

Published in print: 2013-03-01

This book contends that Gabriel Marcel’s reflective method is animated by two extraphilosophical commitments. Marcel’s first extraphilosophical commitment is to an ethico-religious insight where the highest ontological exigency for human persons is to participate in being. Marcel’s second extraphilosophical commitment is to battle the ever-present threat of dehumanization in late Western modernity. The importance of these two commitments to Marcel’s reflective method can be appreciated better if one views it as a teleological suspension of philosophy. Unfortunately, Marcel undermines his second extraphilosophical commitment by neglecting to examine what is perhaps the most prevalent threat of depersonalization in Western modernity, antiblack racism. Given Marcel’s professed commitment to battle against the forces of dehumanization in late Western modernity, any Marcellian reflective method that is faithful to Marcel’s commitment to combat dehumanization should account for how antiblack racism has affected modern human persons, especially Africana persons. Tunstall thinks Gordon’s existential phenomenology is a promising candidate for providing this sort of account.

This book traces the trajectory of John J. McDermott's philosophical career through a selection of his essays. Many were originally occasional pieces and address specific issues in ...
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This book traces the trajectory of John J. McDermott's philosophical career through a selection of his essays. Many were originally occasional pieces and address specific issues in American thought and culture. Together they constitute a mosaic of McDermott's philosophy, showing its roots in an American conception of experience. Though he draws heavily on the thought of William James and the pragmatists, McDermott has his own unique perspective on philosophy and American life. Drawing inspiration from American history, from existentialist themes, and from personal experiences, he offers a dramatic consideration of our culture's failures and successes. McDermott crosses disciplinary boundaries, drawing on whatever helps to make sense of the issues with which he is dealing—issues rooted in medical practice, political events, pedagogical habits, and the world of the arts.Less

The Drama of Possibility : Experience as Philosophy of Culture

John J. McDermott

Published in print: 2007-06-15

This book traces the trajectory of John J. McDermott's philosophical career through a selection of his essays. Many were originally occasional pieces and address specific issues in American thought and culture. Together they constitute a mosaic of McDermott's philosophy, showing its roots in an American conception of experience. Though he draws heavily on the thought of William James and the pragmatists, McDermott has his own unique perspective on philosophy and American life. Drawing inspiration from American history, from existentialist themes, and from personal experiences, he offers a dramatic consideration of our culture's failures and successes. McDermott crosses disciplinary boundaries, drawing on whatever helps to make sense of the issues with which he is dealing—issues rooted in medical practice, political events, pedagogical habits, and the world of the arts.

This book considers John Dewey's early philosophy on its own terms and aims to explicate its key ideas. It does so through the fullest treatment to date of his youthful masterwork, the Psychology. ...
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This book considers John Dewey's early philosophy on its own terms and aims to explicate its key ideas. It does so through the fullest treatment to date of his youthful masterwork, the Psychology. This fuller treatment reveals that the received view, which sees Dewey's early philosophy as unimportant in its own right, is deeply mistaken. In fact, Dewey's early philosophy amounts to an important new form of idealism. More specifically, Dewey's idealism contains a new logic of rupture, which allows us to achieve four things: a focus on discontinuity that challenges all naturalistic views, including Dewey's own later view; a space of critical resistance to events that is at the same time the source of ideals; a faith in the development of ideals that challenges pessimists like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche; and a non-traditional reading of Hegel that invites comparison with cutting-edge Continental philosophers, such as Adorno, Derrida, and Zizek, and even goes beyond them in its systematic approach. In making these discoveries, the book forges a new link between American and European philosophy, showing how they share similar insights and concerns. It also provides an original assessment of Dewey's relationship to his teacher, George Sylvester Morris, and to other important thinkers of the day, giving us a fresh picture of John Dewey, the man and the philosopher, in the early years of his career. This book discusses a wide range of topics, from Dewey's early reflections on Kant and Hegel to the nature of beauty, courage, sympathy, hatred, love, and even death and despair.Less

Faith in Life : John Dewey's Early Philosophy

Donald J. Morse

Published in print: 2011-07-01

This book considers John Dewey's early philosophy on its own terms and aims to explicate its key ideas. It does so through the fullest treatment to date of his youthful masterwork, the Psychology. This fuller treatment reveals that the received view, which sees Dewey's early philosophy as unimportant in its own right, is deeply mistaken. In fact, Dewey's early philosophy amounts to an important new form of idealism. More specifically, Dewey's idealism contains a new logic of rupture, which allows us to achieve four things: a focus on discontinuity that challenges all naturalistic views, including Dewey's own later view; a space of critical resistance to events that is at the same time the source of ideals; a faith in the development of ideals that challenges pessimists like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche; and a non-traditional reading of Hegel that invites comparison with cutting-edge Continental philosophers, such as Adorno, Derrida, and Zizek, and even goes beyond them in its systematic approach. In making these discoveries, the book forges a new link between American and European philosophy, showing how they share similar insights and concerns. It also provides an original assessment of Dewey's relationship to his teacher, George Sylvester Morris, and to other important thinkers of the day, giving us a fresh picture of John Dewey, the man and the philosopher, in the early years of his career. This book discusses a wide range of topics, from Dewey's early reflections on Kant and Hegel to the nature of beauty, courage, sympathy, hatred, love, and even death and despair.

This collection of articles by American philosopher, John Lachs, includes Lachs's discussions of philosophy of mind, medical ethics, his theories of mediation and choice-inclusive facts, and his ...
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This collection of articles by American philosopher, John Lachs, includes Lachs's discussions of philosophy of mind, medical ethics, his theories of mediation and choice-inclusive facts, and his recent espousal of anti-perfectionism and stoic pragmatism. Lachs acknowledges the complex tension that arises in celebrating human individuality, intelligence, and creativity while being mindful of the real conditions that curb our endeavors. Meaningful and enriching living are not thereby sacrificed but rather contextualized. As a result, Lachs celebrates moments of immediacy even as he recognizes the comforts and costs associated with material and moral advance. Each of the five parts of the volume highlights a dominant theme in Lachs's philosophy, and each is organized chronologically to map the development of specific arguments and ideas across the years.Less

Freedom and Limits

John Lachs

Published in print: 2014-03-03

This collection of articles by American philosopher, John Lachs, includes Lachs's discussions of philosophy of mind, medical ethics, his theories of mediation and choice-inclusive facts, and his recent espousal of anti-perfectionism and stoic pragmatism. Lachs acknowledges the complex tension that arises in celebrating human individuality, intelligence, and creativity while being mindful of the real conditions that curb our endeavors. Meaningful and enriching living are not thereby sacrificed but rather contextualized. As a result, Lachs celebrates moments of immediacy even as he recognizes the comforts and costs associated with material and moral advance. Each of the five parts of the volume highlights a dominant theme in Lachs's philosophy, and each is organized chronologically to map the development of specific arguments and ideas across the years.

This book explores themes in classical American philosophy, primarily the thought of John Dewey, but also that of Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Santayana, and Native American traditions. It argues that ...
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This book explores themes in classical American philosophy, primarily the thought of John Dewey, but also that of Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Santayana, and Native American traditions. It argues that human beings have an inherent need to experience meaning and value, a “Human Eros.” Our various cultures are symbolic environments or “spiritual ecologies” within which the Human Eros seeks to thrive. This is how we inhabit the earth. Encircling and sustaining our cultural existence is nature, yet Western philosophy has not provided adequate conceptual models for thinking ecologically. The book introduces the idea of “eco-ontology” to explore ways in which this might be done, beginning with the primacy of Nature over Being but also including the recognition of possibility and potentiality as inherent aspects of existence. It argues for the centrality of Dewey’s thought to an effective ecological philosophy. Both “pragmatism” and “naturalism,” it shows, need to be contextualized within an emergentist, relational, nonreductive view of nature and an aesthetic, imaginative, nonreductive view of intelligence.Less

The Human Eros : Eco-ontology and the Aesthetics of Existence

Thomas Alexander

Published in print: 2013-07-01

This book explores themes in classical American philosophy, primarily the thought of John Dewey, but also that of Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Santayana, and Native American traditions. It argues that human beings have an inherent need to experience meaning and value, a “Human Eros.” Our various cultures are symbolic environments or “spiritual ecologies” within which the Human Eros seeks to thrive. This is how we inhabit the earth. Encircling and sustaining our cultural existence is nature, yet Western philosophy has not provided adequate conceptual models for thinking ecologically. The book introduces the idea of “eco-ontology” to explore ways in which this might be done, beginning with the primacy of Nature over Being but also including the recognition of possibility and potentiality as inherent aspects of existence. It argues for the centrality of Dewey’s thought to an effective ecological philosophy. Both “pragmatism” and “naturalism,” it shows, need to be contextualized within an emergentist, relational, nonreductive view of nature and an aesthetic, imaginative, nonreductive view of intelligence.

Using the work of Alain Badiou, Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida, “In Motion, At Rest: The Event of the Athletic Body,” explores three events in sport: Ron Artest in basketball and Eric Cantona and ...
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Using the work of Alain Badiou, Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida, “In Motion, At Rest: The Event of the Athletic Body,” explores three events in sport: Ron Artest in basketball and Eric Cantona and Zinedine Zidane in football (soccer). The sports event, “In Motion” argues, reveals the ways in which the intensity and opacity of the event is most visible in sport. Theorizing the event through sport makes possible a new thinking of the event, revealing how what was already inherent to the event is opened to new possibilities by thinking sport philosophically. “In Motion” is not so much distinct from any other works on the event in sport, sport’s theory, sport’s studies, as it stands sui generis: by itself because it is the first work in these fields to think the sport’s event philosophically. Similarly, there are no works in philosophically that pay any attention to the sport’s event.Less

In Motion, At Rest : The Event of the Athletic Body

Grant Farred

Published in print: 2014-02-01

Using the work of Alain Badiou, Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida, “In Motion, At Rest: The Event of the Athletic Body,” explores three events in sport: Ron Artest in basketball and Eric Cantona and Zinedine Zidane in football (soccer). The sports event, “In Motion” argues, reveals the ways in which the intensity and opacity of the event is most visible in sport. Theorizing the event through sport makes possible a new thinking of the event, revealing how what was already inherent to the event is opened to new possibilities by thinking sport philosophically. “In Motion” is not so much distinct from any other works on the event in sport, sport’s theory, sport’s studies, as it stands sui generis: by itself because it is the first work in these fields to think the sport’s event philosophically. Similarly, there are no works in philosophically that pay any attention to the sport’s event.

Many contemporary constructivists are particularly attuned to Dewey's penetrating criticism of traditional epistemology, which offers rich alternatives for understanding processes of ...
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Many contemporary constructivists are particularly attuned to Dewey's penetrating criticism of traditional epistemology, which offers rich alternatives for understanding processes of learning and education, knowledge and truth, and experience and culture. This book, the result of cooperation between the Center for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and the Dewey Center at the University of Cologne, provides an excellent example of the international character of pragmatist studies against the backdrop of constructivist concerns. As a part of their exploration of the many points of contact between classical pragmatism and contemporary constructivism, its contributors turn their attention to theories of interaction and transaction, communication and culture, learning and education, community and democracy, theory and practice, and inquiry and methods. Part One is a basic survey of Dewey's pragmatism and its implications for contemporary constructivism. Part Two examines the implications of the connections between Deweyan pragmatism and contemporary constructivism. Part Three presents a lively exchange among the contributors, as they challenge one another and defend their positions and perspectives. As they seek common ground, they articulate concepts such as power, truth, relativism, inquiry, and democracy from pragmatist and interactive constructivist vantage points in ways that are designed to render the preceding essays even more accessible. The concluding discussion demonstrates both the enduring relevance of classical pragmatism and the challenge of its reconstruction from the perspective of the Cologne program of interactive constructivism.Less

John Dewey Between Pragmatism and Constructivism

Stefan NeubertKersten Reich

Published in print: 2009-03-16

Many contemporary constructivists are particularly attuned to Dewey's penetrating criticism of traditional epistemology, which offers rich alternatives for understanding processes of learning and education, knowledge and truth, and experience and culture. This book, the result of cooperation between the Center for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and the Dewey Center at the University of Cologne, provides an excellent example of the international character of pragmatist studies against the backdrop of constructivist concerns. As a part of their exploration of the many points of contact between classical pragmatism and contemporary constructivism, its contributors turn their attention to theories of interaction and transaction, communication and culture, learning and education, community and democracy, theory and practice, and inquiry and methods. Part One is a basic survey of Dewey's pragmatism and its implications for contemporary constructivism. Part Two examines the implications of the connections between Deweyan pragmatism and contemporary constructivism. Part Three presents a lively exchange among the contributors, as they challenge one another and defend their positions and perspectives. As they seek common ground, they articulate concepts such as power, truth, relativism, inquiry, and democracy from pragmatist and interactive constructivist vantage points in ways that are designed to render the preceding essays even more accessible. The concluding discussion demonstrates both the enduring relevance of classical pragmatism and the challenge of its reconstruction from the perspective of the Cologne program of interactive constructivism.